Lots of problems

[The Horror Is Alive]

I got a Dell Optiplex GX110 on eBay, got it delivered over six months ago. It's been through a lot of OS installs/uninstalls (I like having both 98 and XP on the same PC, but they don't like each other). I've just installed XP again, and have decided to stick with it, no more OS changing. It was working really nicely, and in return I like to keep it clean, defragmented, scandisked, and virus-free. Lately though, I've been running into a few problems. Please help me!

 

Specs:

933MHz Pentium III

256MB RAM

10GB HDD (XP installed on this one)

80GB HDD

Integrated Intel 82810 Graphics Core

Integrated Intel Sound Core

Integrated Ethernet Networking

Wireless Card

56k Modem

52x CD Reader

48x/24x/48x/16x Multi-Drive (Read, Burn CDs, Read DVDs)

 

External:

Laser Wired Keyboard (Pink Attachment)

iDigital Optical Wired Mouse (USB Attachment)

AV Labs Speakers/Subwoofer

Logitech Webcam

500GB Seagate FreeAgent External HDD

Bluetooth Dongle

 

1. I've been getting a lot of random Memory Parity Errors.

 

2. It won't read my wireless card anymore (Add New Hardware Wizard comes up at startup).

 

3. It wants to install an "Ethernet Controller" at startup.

 

4. A lot of hard drive activity seems to be happening for no reason (green light keeps flickering, you know...).

 

Please don't tell me I have to reinstall XP. I don't want to lose my Pinball scores again...

[poinpioa]

i took one lok at your pc and realised the whole thing is really just (sorry to say it) totally useless and should be thrown on the scrap heap. for these reasons :-

 

- its a Dell. Dell is one of the crappiest pc makers out there. the reason they survive is because they use the cheapest crappiest components.

- look at all the integrated stuff (vide sound etc) you have on board. for sure because it is a Dell they used the cheapest ways to do everything and basically, all your circuits are leaking signals to each other.

- look at the plethora os new tech you have there: bluetooth, usb, wireless keyboard, external hdd --- all this is such totally new technology and they have never been tested alongside each other. for sure they are all interfering with each other and causing bugs. throw in Dell's low tech ability and you have a sorry piece of junk.

 

i would gently recommend just a generic p put together by a good corner shop guy who knows his stuff. such guys really put an effort into making components work together becuase they cannot afford time to fix things afterwards (Dell loves fixing things afterwards, they get paid for it).

 

i bet if you broke up all your components into little bits you can sell each of them and get a higher price in total than if u tried to sell them all as one.

[The Horror Is Alive]

Wow. Leaking signals? I didn't know that was possible.

 

Yeah, my PC is fit for the scrap heap, but I bought it purely because I wanted to extend my PC experience, and try to upgrade it myself.

 

I will one day get a new one, but right now I need to keep this one.

 

Thanks for your reply, anyway...

[krashdown]

i think that you should just stick with 1 operating system.

 

it sounds confused so get someone to fiddle with the bios

 

then again i'm not a self proclaimed or genuine expert at this stuff

 

if it was me i would just get a new computer and have a computer smashing ceremony in my backyard

Edited March 18, 2008 by krashdown

[Jevon]

 

1. I've been getting a lot of random Memory Parity Errors.

Try reseating your RAM (i.e. take it out, blow into the socket, etc, put it back in). If that doesn't work, try running MemTest+ to diagnose a faulty DIMM; you may need new RAM. It *could* be the RAM controller failing, but that's unlikely. Does it cause any actual issues, or just warnings [on boot]?

 

 

2. It won't read my wireless card anymore (Add New Hardware Wizard comes up at startup).

3. It wants to install an "Ethernet Controller" at startup.

Are these not the same thing? It sounds like you just need to (re)install the driver for your wireless card... What do you mean by "won't read"?

 

 

4. A lot of hard drive activity seems to be happening for no reason (green light keeps flickering, you know...).

This could be any number of things. Does it cause you any actual performance issues? Have you done spyware/etc checks? Is it constant?

[The Horror Is Alive]

I'll try that MemTest tonight. Hope it diagnoses what's wrong. Lately though, the mem parity errors don't seem to be coming up at all (thankfully). Also, its random. No warnings or anything.

 

I worked out that the "Ethernet Controller" was my wireless card. It seems to be working, but with a few glitches. I dunno, but I have a theory which might explain the problem: When I go to Windows Update, there's an update for "Atheros Wireless Card". I never installed it though, because I always knew the drivers I got on the CD were compatible enough and I didn't want to screw things up even more. However, Automatic Updates may have already installed it... I hate that f*ckin thing.

 

Lastly, I always keep my computer Defragmented, Anti-Spywared, Anti-Adwared, etc. The hard drive activity seems to go on for a long time, but will eventually stop (about 2 min, which is a fairly long time).

[Statutory Ray]

You only have 256mb of RAM running XP... the hard drive activity is the OS swapping memory between the virtual memory and RAM.

 

Edit: Also, CD drivers are NEVER up to date. It's always best to get the latest drivers from the manufacturer's website.